Chapter 218 – The Secret Realm Within the Dreams
The three of them chatted as they advanced down the narrow path at pace so fast that it exceeded the speed at which ordinary humans would be at during a hundred metre dash. However, after continuously walking for at least half an hour, they still had not reached the end of the path. Rather, it seemed to them that they were going in circles in the pyramid instead. They had encountered multiple bends in the path along the way, giving them the impression that they were heading up the pyramid in a spiral fashion, though they did not know their exact location within the pyramid.
When they finally reached the end of the path, what stood before them were a set of closed doors..
However, unlike the entrance, these set of doors were akin to the front doors of an imperial palace. They looked ancient, and yet gave off an imposing aura. On its surface was a picture carving of a man with the head of a wolf hoisting a set of scales, with a feather on one scale and a heart on the other.
"The judge of souls. If the "heart" of your soul is heavier than the feather, he with judge you as evil and send you to eternal damnation," explained Mu Zi. With a gentle push, the giantic doors creaked as they slowly opened up.
Simba held on tightly onto Wang Zhong's ear. He was most afraid of the unknown, and did not even know why he had followed in together with them. Many legends he had heard about mentioned about graves and this seemed like one of them. Even it if was not the grave of a highly esteemed pharaoh, it was still a grave! It was alright in the past to play around in the dream world as they would not die. However, this was a place filled with danger. One moment of carelessness could cost them their lives. Unlike the rest, Simba really didn't want to die.
Past the doors, the group was met with an environment full of peace and tranquility.
Before them was a vast, empty space. The two doors had led to a empty place that lacked any foundation. There were no light in the empty space, making it hard for them to know exactly how big the space is. Looking far ahead, they could see a tiny pinprick of light in the far distance, indicating the presence of another set of doors that led out of this room.
"The first obstacle is nothingness. Seems easy enough to pass." said Aioros Aioros with a smile.
Wang Zhong was dumbfounded at Aioros's proclamation. How is it simple? The door were at least a few kilometres away from them. Even the strongest Heroic Soul soldiers would not be able to jump across such a distance.
"We'll fly over and take a closer look."
"Simba can fly!" Simba was the first to raise his hand as he cried out, "But Wang Zhong can't!"
Wang Zhong was struck speechless by Simba's betrayal. Exactly whose side are you on?
"Not a problem. There's no need to waste your soul power," replied Mu Zi as he untied the coffin from his back.
Placing his hands gently on the coffin, the blue rays of light radiated out from the entire coffin, before it floating in the air.
Jumping on top of it, the little baldy said, "Just take a seat over here."
"This really saves energy. Your soul weapon is really useful.," laughed Aioros. Both Aioros and Wang Zhong could not help but sigh in admiration. Both had divine objects and yet, the usefulness of Mu Zi's coffin far outstrips his own. His coffin can be used for transportation, or as a shield to brave the storms, and can even fly! The Fate Stone…is nothing more that rock.
Even when carrying three people along with Simba, the coffin still flew at a rapid and stable manner. The white dot of light they had seen previously was indeed a set of doors. When everyone had passed through that set of doors, both the doors and the empty space melted into nonexistence. Pass the doors, what greeted their eyes was a vast stretch of wilderness.
The wilderness was overgrown with weeds everywhere. There were also many raised mounds, indicating the presence of many graves in this area. It was just like a burial grounds that had went wild due to the lack of maintenance. This itself was not strange. What was truly strange was the sky above them and their surroundings.
Instead of a blue sky above them, a complete stretch of whiteness hung above them. The place seemed as though it was cut off, with nothing but whiteness beyond its borders, separating this patch of wilderness from the rest of some continent.
"Such a strange place," said Wang Zhong in curious amazement. Everything he was experiencing were things he had never seen before in the academy's library.
Both the space of nothingness and the cut-off vast wilderness were experiences that transcended the boundaries of normalcy in Wang Zhong's mind.
Everyone had walked into a sealed pyramid. However, the two places they had seen were clearly existences that typically should not be in the interior of the pyramid. Wang Zhong had never experienced a dimensional space like this before. To see such a stable dimensional space, where separate dimensional spaces were linked together by structures like doors was a little intense for Wang Zhong to accept readily.
Dimensional spaces and the spaces between them should have immense repulsive force, and would be unstable to boot. However, in here, these spaces were fixed at a particular state using a method such as doors to stabilise them and chain them together. Not just that, these spaces were stabilised for thousands of years. It seemed mightily impossible to Wang Zhong. If the stability of these distinct dimensional spaces were to the runic array formations that adorned the exterior of the pyramid, it would be simply impossible to comprehend those formations based on the current level of technology the Federation possessed. In comparison to that, the Federation's runic system would seem like the scribblings of a child.
Wang Zhong was in admiration of the how fantastic this dimensional space was. Just then, rustling sounds could be heard from all directions in the wilderness. The nameless graves of differing sizes began to shake, sending dust and earth flying in all directions. Dead bodies wrapped in thick and long cloths slowly emerged from these graves, their hands swiping away the earth that weighed down their bodies.
swipe away the earth and dirt pressing on their bodies, before climbing up from the ground.
Based on their appearances, they looked like…mummies? Wang Zhong opened his eyes wide. He had heard of such things from his history lessons, and the notion of mummies was an important aspect of the pyramid culture. Wasn't the mummification process just a way for people to preserve the bodies after they had passed away?
"There's so many of those ugly mummies here! Wang Zhong, let's run away! When there's life, there's hope!" The brave Simba always had the clearest view of the situation.
Hiss Hiss Hiss
The mummies came at them, making moaning sounds as they approached. A thick stench of death permeated the air as more and more mummies arose from their graves, slowly surrounding Wang Zhong and the rest.
Within the ten square kilometers of wilderness, there was a mummy in every few square meter. When added together, the number of mummies ranged in the thousands, and the numbers were still steadily climbing higher and higher.
The previous obstacle was like a walk in the park. The previous space of nothingness gave off no sense of danger, which painted a false picture of safety to the group. It was only after entering the wilderness did the dangers of the pyramid start to rear its ugly head. Not just that, the dangers were hard to contend against. Peering into the angry glow that radiated from the eye sockets of the mummies, they all noticed that the mummies were not moving in a disorderly manner. Instead, all the mummies had appeared as though on cue, and all of them were turned to face one focal point: Wang Zhong and the gang.
Aioros smiled and spoke out. "Mu Zi, looks like we've found the real grave this time. Look, there are so many mummy guards."
Mu Zi nodded his head in excitement.
Looking at the endless sea of monsters that stretched as far as the eye could see, Wang Zhong started to wonder. If he had his crosswheels, he might be able to get out of this encirclement.